Hoodie Wearing Drug Dealing Gangbanging Thugs (Part 2)

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.  1 Timothy 5:24-25

In 2010, as an officer, I was arrested for a crime I didn't commit.
How many times have you read, saw on TV, or heard on the radio, those words?
How many times have they actually been true?
Are they EVER true?

They must be.
They were for me.
God vindicated me and glorified me.
I was shown not only innocent, but honorable in a news paper article with front page picture, and a radio interview.  I was honored by the Undersheriff.  I was promoted.

But before all of this...
I was arrested.

I looked the Internal Affairs Investigator in the eyes, having allowed him to search my home with dogs, and having volunteered to a lie detector, urine test, skin test, and pubic hair test, I said these words:

I'm sure you've heard these words over and over in your career:

"I'm innocent."

"I was set up."

I'm sure you're jaded and skeptical.

But you can also read people.

Surely you should be able to look into the eyes of an innocent man and see innocence. 

If not, our jobs are meaningless.

What does my false arrest and vindication have to to with hoodie wearing drug dealing gang banging thugs?

Everything.

The problem with trials is the complication of human relations.
The lack of a dead man's version.
No, I am not a lawyer, but surely you and I understand the basic premises of law and justice and fairness. 
Is it possible for a hoodie wearing drug dealing gangbanging thug to not actually be a hoodie wearing drug dealing gang banging thug?  If so, how do we know?  If not, why not? 

When I became an officer, a lieutenant said these words:

"The only difference between officers and inmates is that we haven't been caught."

With every atom, molecule, cell, and gene in my body, I DISAGREED WITH HER.
There must be a difference between guilt and innocence.
Not only a difference, an obvious difference.

Isn't it obvious that a 17 year old should still be alive, even if he was awaiting trial for allegedly trespassing, or loitering, or the battery of a 30 year old neighorhood watchman?

Isn't it obvious that I shouldn't strap on my gun and follow a man around my apartment complex, with my wife and children in my home, wondering if I'm going to come home?  After all, if I'm following a dangerous "suspect," it stands to reason, if I've strapped on my gun, that either I or the suspect won't make it home?

As God revealed to me, so I say:
Deception is when the obvious is no longer obvious.

It is written,
Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.